If you’re planning to build a website, the first step is to choose reliable web hosting.
Not only that, but you need a web host that has fast speeds and offers great features and affordable plans.
Today, we’ll be comparing 2 prominent names in web hosting - DreamHost and AccuWeb.
Cell | DreamHost | AccuWeb |
Owner | New Dream Network, LLC | Jason Pat |
Basic Plan | Shared Starter | Personal |
Price | $2.59/mo | $3.09/mo |
Free Domain? | Yes | Yes |
Average Uptime | 99.98% (August 2023) | 99.9% uptime guarantee |
Average Speed | 1,836 ms (August 2023) | Uses LiteSpeed Cache and SSD storage |
One-Click WordPress Installation? | Yes | Yes |
Free SSL? | Yes | Yes |
Number of Sites | 1 | Unlimited |
Free Email? | No | 150 accounts |
Free Backup? | Yes | Yes |
Moneyback Guarantee | 97 days | 30 days |
Support Channels | Live chat, email ticketing, phone callback | Live chat and email |
Control Panel | Dreamhost-built | cPanel |
Space | 50 GB | 10 GB |
Free CDN? | No | No |
Migration Services | Free for WordPress Sites | Yes |
Overall Rating | ||
Get Hosting | ||
Other Plans | Managed WordPress ($2.59), VPS ($10), Dedicated Hosting ($149) | Managed WordPRess ($2.99), VPS ($5), Dedicated Hosting ($80) |
Cell |
Our DreamHost vs AccuWeb comparison review is to help you decide which one is better for YOU. To do that, we’ll look into:
Uptime and Performance
Website Building Ease of Use
Migration Services
Security
Products and Features
Pricing
So let’s begin!
DreamHost vs AccuWeb - An Oveview
DreamHost has served almost half a million customers in over 25 years –– which equates to over 1.5 million websites!
You will find that DreamHost is one of the first choices of developers, digital marketers, and designers. This alone can tell you that their services are to be trusted.
Also, since 1996, they’ve won impressive awards, including the PCMag Business Choice Award for four years running (2014 to 2017), as well as the ScaleUp Award in the Stackworld Conference 2016.
After more than 17+ years in the web hosting business, AccuWeb provides vital web hosting services to over 55,000 accounts.
Starting as a Windows web hosting service, they have evolved to offer premium hosting to all categories.
AccuWeb has garnered various reviews and awards, too, including the Editor’s Choice 2020 for Best Web Hosting, Best Shared Web Hosting, Best Dedicated Web Hosting, and Best Managed WordPress Web Hosting from PCMag.com. They also received impressive reviews from HostingAdvice.com and Thewebhostingdir.com.
From this overview, we can see that both providers are well-loved and recognized.
DreamHost vs AccuWeb - A Side by Side Comparison
As we mentioned earlier, we’re going to compare both providers with these factors:
- Uptime and Performance
- Website Building Ease of Use
- Migration Services
- Security
- Products and Features
- Pricing
Now, let’s get into the details.
Uptime and Performance
Uptime and performance work together to make your website accessible for your audience.
One thing you should note about DreamHost’s uptime is that it’s a bit inconsistent. In previous years, they went as high as 99.99% on average uptime. Recently, they suffered a low of 99.84%, experiencing 14+ hours of downtime throughout the year.
This is their average uptime at the moment: 99.98% (August 2023).
The good news is that, if you get their higher plans, you get instantly better uptime. But of course, this requires you to pay more and not everyone is keen on investing a lot, especially if it’s your first time.
AccuWeb is a bit more consistent with its uptime. For 2023, they boast an average of 99.98%, meaning their servers were up almost all year round.
They also have a 99.9% uptime guarantee which lets you get a refund if their uptime doesn’t reach this rate.
As for speed, AccuWeb offers incredible performance with the LiteSpeedWebServer, SSD storage, and Cloudflare CDN (optional). These ensure ultra-fast loading speeds on your site regardless of having multimedia content.
DreamHost, on the other hand, offers unlimited traffic and fast SSD storage. These features help your website load quicker, thus lowering your bounce rates.
Winner: AccuWeb. In terms of uptime and speed, AccuWeb gives a more consistent performance, plus a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Its LiteSpeed Caching feature helps improve the overall loading time of its websites, too.
Website Building Ease of Use
DreamHost is one of the web hosts that is specially endorsed by WordPress.
All their packages can be integrated with WordPress for easy website building. You can even choose to go for a DreamPress account for full in-house support from WordPress experts.
And if you don’t want the hassle of handling tech stuff, you can always use the beginner-friendly DreamHost website builder. This is a drag-and-drop site builder that has professional templates that you can use for your site.
Find out how to set up your website with DreamHost:
AccuWeb’s winning hand is due to flexibility –– they offer multiple application hosting and Softaculous support for easy installation of WordPress, PrestaShop, Node.js, Joomla, and Magento.
And while it’s not a web host that WordPress endorses, it does have a site builder with 400+ templates to choose from.
Winner: Tie. Both have many website creation options that make them easy to use.
Migration Services
You will find that both providers offer free migration services that come with different strengths.
Your best bet for free WordPress migration is DreamHost. They offer WordPress automated migration through the DreamHost Migration Plugin. We also love that they have real-time tracking of the migration process.
As for AccuWeb, they have free 24/7 on-demand migration services headed by their professional support team.
For intuitive migration, DreamHost stands out. But if you want to leave it all to the experts, AccuWeb offers that for you.
Winner: Tie. Both web hosts have free migration services, but it’s a matter of preference on whether you want to use a plug-in or a professional support team to move your site.
Security
What about security?
Both DreamHost and AccuWeb offer free SSL certificates.
Specifically, Dreamhost has its SSL certificates backed by SSH, STHP, and HTTP/2 support. You can also choose to enable multi-factor authentication on your cPanel.
With DreamHost’s dedication to providing top security, they have developed their DreamShield security application and their own firewall.
Aside from securing multiple domains or unlimited subdomains with their 256-bit SSL certificates, AccuWeb has an effective 99.98% block rate cloud-based anti-spam solution. This is used against unwanted emails that can bring viruses and phishing attacks.
The only downside to the cloud-based anti-spam solution is it’s an additional service that you have to purchase on top of the basic shared hosting plan of AccuWeb.
As you can see, both providers make it a priority to keep your website secure.
Winner: DreamHost. Its free and robust security features included in its basic plan are what stand out.
Products and Features
DreamHost offers some of the best deals for web hosting.
With their most basic package, the Shared Starter plan, you can get fast SSD storage, traditional cPanel, unmetered bandwidth, a dedicated website builder, and a money-back guarantee.
Plus, they offer flexible solutions for Shared, VPS, and Dedicated servers. And if you’re a WordPress geek, you will love their DreamPress package, which ensures reliable and optimal performance for bulk audiences.
For any concerns, you can always rely on Dreamhost for an award-winning 24/7/365 in-house service team.
Meanwhile, AccuWeb offers a full range of web hosting services for all businesses. With them, you can find a wide variety of products in their Shared SSD, Cloud or VPS Hosting, Dedicated, and Application hosting. Depending on the package, you can go with Windows SSD/Cloud, Forex, or Reseller hosting.
What’s more, you can get individual web service subscriptions like domain name registration, SSL certificate, anti-spam, CDN services, and professional services such as website design, SEO, and email hosting services.
And yes, they also boast of fast response rates with their 24/7/365 customer support.
Winner: Tie. Both web hosts have a wide range of services that any type of business can use. They also have excellent 24/7 customer support.
Pricing
With the generous features that you get at DreamHost, their products are incredibly affordable.
Shared and WordPress Hosting plans start at around $2.95. VPS Hosting plans with unlimited websites, traffic, and email ranges from $10 to $80, where you can get up to 8GB RAM and 240 GB SSD at the higher range.
AccuWeb offers almost all web hosting services that you can ask for. Aside from their great features, you also get a full money-back guarantee and hassle-free cancellation.
AccuWeb plans are highly customizable and affordable, starting from $3.09 to $12.46 (on their Shared Windows plan). Of course, the price range goes higher for their other products, such as VPS and Dedicated.
Winner: DreamHost. The packages are more affordable across their features. It also gives great value-for-money thanks to its site builder and security suite.
DreamHost vs AccuWeb - The Verdict
While it’s hard to say which one is the best web hosting, we can definitely guarantee that both have their strengths.
Here’s a summary of the winner in each of the categories we’ve discussed:
Category | Winner |
---|---|
Uptime and performance | AccuWeb - consistent uptime and LiteSpeed Caching for faster site speed |
Website Building Ease of Use | Tie - both have many website creation options that make them easy to use |
Migration service | Tie - both web hosts have free migration services |
Security | DreamHost - robust security features for its starter plan |
Products and Features | Tie - both web hosts have a wide range of features and a 24/7 customer support |
Pricing | DreamHost - has more affordable prices across all services and has great value-for-money |
From our comparison, DreamHost offers ease of use with its website building and migration services, WordPress integration, and complete security features even for its Shared Starter plan.
If you’re looking for customizable features for your web hosting needs and reliable uptime and speed, you’ll find great packages at AccuWeb.
So whichever suits you most, you can trust that that is the best web host for YOU.